EBay Coin Best Practices: Part II Counterfeit Coins
In part one of my series articles on eBay best –practices, I explained about misrepresentation tactics which are adopted by coin sellers and how you can avoid them. In this article; I’m going to bring into light scam counterfeit coins that are more dangerous than initially though.
For many years now, eBay have been reputed as a counterfeit haven and while it has worked hard to crack the whip on deceitful and counterfeit coin sellers over the past few years, the truth remain that there are still fake coins that are sold through the online business platform every single day. Although some counterfeits can easily be identified, it’s now becoming a tedious task determining the authenticity of a coin exclusively from a few pictures. The guidelines in this article will help you minimize the level of risk which you are exposed to when shopping for coins from eBay.
Some types of coins are more frequently counterfeited than others. Some numismatists assert that at least a third of ancient coins which are sold on eBay are counterfeits. One of the key reasons for this is the lack of standardization. The level of quality which hand-minted coins offers varies considerably and just like in the ancient coins, there is massive variation in the designs and strikes, therefore offering counterfeiters enough room to wiggle. Two most counterfeited ancient coins include Alexander the Great tetradrachms and the Athenian, the cost of each selling at hundreds of dollars.
The services offered by third party grading experts remain largely underutilized as most of the ancient coins that are sold are not slabed. This means that the seller’s reputation takes utmost importance. It helps when you stick to sellers who have PNG logo in the listings they put up for sale. Sellers that have PNG approvals will certainly be able to adhere to strict code of professional conduct and ethics, and so the authenticity of the coins which they sell is guaranteed.
When it comes to contemporary coins, there are still many counterfeits in eBay. Among the U.S series of coins that are mostly counterfeited include: Draped Bust Dollars, Indian Head-Quarter Eagles and Trade Dollars. Whenever you are buying coins that form part of these series, it really helps to be extremely of key and semi-key dates. But beyond the specified series, there are several other keydate coins which remain counterfeited and include the 1909-S VDB penny, the 1877 penny, the 1893-S Morgan dollar and the 1937-D three-legged nickel among others. When shopping-for –keydates, you should look at the following signs of counterfeiting: lack of patina and strange color, porosity on the younger coins, unusually smooth or rough areas , especially around the mintmark, visible seams and extremely weak strikes. Other things which you should look at are inaccurate design details, varying levels of wear in the rear obverse as well as the reverse. Your commonsense comes into play here, and if you are unable to see some of the coin’s features properly, you shouldn’t place a bid.
If you are not sure about your counterfeit identification skills, you can minimize your risk by sticking to reputable coin sellers. However, a high feedback rating does not always guarantee you anything! If you really want to minimize the amount of risk which you are exposed to, you have to go with a PNG seller or stick to well known coin dealers on eBay. There are several national dealers who use eBay to get rid of their excess inventory and if you have a dealer or a company you trust, you may need to find out if they have an eBay account. You might find awesome dealers on eBay as compared to what you would get on the company’s main website.
Another important consideration which you should make is the location of the coin seller. Most of the counterfeited US coins originate from China, so avoid Chinese -sellers. Shipping time and custom fees are reasons enough why you should not deal with them, even without consideration of counterfeiting risk. Eastern Europe is also another counterfeiting hub, but they concentrate mostly on European crowns than United States coins. By shopping on eBay, you will find it easier sorting out results by country.
The best way to go is to restrict you to local coins dealers. Well, you may miss out on a few bargains, but you can save on faster shipping and related costs. However, you shouldn’t lower your guard too much for the American sellers because they could also expose you to risks. In case a coin looks suspicious, consider checking the seller’s reviews. If they have a history of sourcing for coins from Chinese sellers, chances are that they are selling counterfeited coins at a small premium.
Unfortunately, even the slabbed coins do not offer complete safety net anymore. Very high quality counterfeit Chinese coins that look more authentic have started appearing on eBay. The counterfeiters mostly target the NGC and PCGS slabs because they are the ones which demand premium grading services. Most of the counterfeit slabs are keydate coins which include the 1916-D Mercury and 1893-S Morgan. This makes it pretty hard to distinguish the slabs from authentic coins. They exercise high level of caution, use high quality tools and craftsmanship to come up with counterfeited coins that resemble the original ones.
These are low quality coins that are stuck in excellent quality slabs or low grade coins stuck in authentic alloys. The counterfeit detection methods discussed above still apply; therefore you shouldn’t trust a coin just because it’s slabbed. Check the certification number of the slab on the website of the grading services company. A database match does not guarantee authenticity because there are a few counterfeiters who also copy-genuine-codes hence making it hard to differentiate genuine from counterfeits.
There has been an improvement in the quality of counterfeits that are brought to the market, therefore making it cumbersome to differentiate real from fake coins. While eBay is an awesome resource for coin collectors, it is imperative that you exercise caution when shopping for coins. Stick to reputable sellers, avoid too good to be true sellers and use your common sense.
In part one of my series articles on eBay best –practices, I explained about misrepresentation tactics which are adopted by coin sellers and how you can avoid them. In this article; I’m going to bring into light scam counterfeit coins that are more dangerous than initially though.
For many years now, eBay have been reputed as a counterfeit haven and while it has worked hard to crack the whip on deceitful and counterfeit coin sellers over the past few years, the truth remain that there are still fake coins that are sold through the online business platform every single day. Although some counterfeits can easily be identified, it’s now becoming a tedious task determining the authenticity of a coin exclusively from a few pictures. The guidelines in this article will help you minimize the level of risk which you are exposed to when shopping for coins from eBay.
Some types of coins are more frequently counterfeited than others. Some numismatists assert that at least a third of ancient coins which are sold on eBay are counterfeits. One of the key reasons for this is the lack of standardization. The level of quality which hand-minted coins offers varies considerably and just like in the ancient coins, there is massive variation in the designs and strikes, therefore offering counterfeiters enough room to wiggle. Two most counterfeited ancient coins include Alexander the Great tetradrachms and the Athenian, the cost of each selling at hundreds of dollars.
The services offered by third party grading experts remain largely underutilized as most of the ancient coins that are sold are not slabed. This means that the seller’s reputation takes utmost importance. It helps when you stick to sellers who have PNG logo in the listings they put up for sale. Sellers that have PNG approvals will certainly be able to adhere to strict code of professional conduct and ethics, and so the authenticity of the coins which they sell is guaranteed.
When it comes to contemporary coins, there are still many counterfeits in eBay. Among the U.S series of coins that are mostly counterfeited include: Draped Bust Dollars, Indian Head-Quarter Eagles and Trade Dollars. Whenever you are buying coins that form part of these series, it really helps to be extremely of key and semi-key dates. But beyond the specified series, there are several other keydate coins which remain counterfeited and include the 1909-S VDB penny, the 1877 penny, the 1893-S Morgan dollar and the 1937-D three-legged nickel among others. When shopping-for –keydates, you should look at the following signs of counterfeiting: lack of patina and strange color, porosity on the younger coins, unusually smooth or rough areas , especially around the mintmark, visible seams and extremely weak strikes. Other things which you should look at are inaccurate design details, varying levels of wear in the rear obverse as well as the reverse. Your commonsense comes into play here, and if you are unable to see some of the coin’s features properly, you shouldn’t place a bid.
If you are not sure about your counterfeit identification skills, you can minimize your risk by sticking to reputable coin sellers. However, a high feedback rating does not always guarantee you anything! If you really want to minimize the amount of risk which you are exposed to, you have to go with a PNG seller or stick to well known coin dealers on eBay. There are several national dealers who use eBay to get rid of their excess inventory and if you have a dealer or a company you trust, you may need to find out if they have an eBay account. You might find awesome dealers on eBay as compared to what you would get on the company’s main website.
Another important consideration which you should make is the location of the coin seller. Most of the counterfeited US coins originate from China, so avoid Chinese -sellers. Shipping time and custom fees are reasons enough why you should not deal with them, even without consideration of counterfeiting risk. Eastern Europe is also another counterfeiting hub, but they concentrate mostly on European crowns than United States coins. By shopping on eBay, you will find it easier sorting out results by country.
The best way to go is to restrict you to local coins dealers. Well, you may miss out on a few bargains, but you can save on faster shipping and related costs. However, you shouldn’t lower your guard too much for the American sellers because they could also expose you to risks. In case a coin looks suspicious, consider checking the seller’s reviews. If they have a history of sourcing for coins from Chinese sellers, chances are that they are selling counterfeited coins at a small premium.
Unfortunately, even the slabbed coins do not offer complete safety net anymore. Very high quality counterfeit Chinese coins that look more authentic have started appearing on eBay. The counterfeiters mostly target the NGC and PCGS slabs because they are the ones which demand premium grading services. Most of the counterfeit slabs are keydate coins which include the 1916-D Mercury and 1893-S Morgan. This makes it pretty hard to distinguish the slabs from authentic coins. They exercise high level of caution, use high quality tools and craftsmanship to come up with counterfeited coins that resemble the original ones.
These are low quality coins that are stuck in excellent quality slabs or low grade coins stuck in authentic alloys. The counterfeit detection methods discussed above still apply; therefore you shouldn’t trust a coin just because it’s slabbed. Check the certification number of the slab on the website of the grading services company. A database match does not guarantee authenticity because there are a few counterfeiters who also copy-genuine-codes hence making it hard to differentiate genuine from counterfeits.
There has been an improvement in the quality of counterfeits that are brought to the market, therefore making it cumbersome to differentiate real from fake coins. While eBay is an awesome resource for coin collectors, it is imperative that you exercise caution when shopping for coins. Stick to reputable sellers, avoid too good to be true sellers and use your common sense.